1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of gaming, and provides a method and apparatus for dispensing prizes.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many kinds of gaming devices in current use. Such machines include slot machines, either mechanical or electronic, video poker machines, arcade games, and many other kinds of mechanical, electrical, and electronic machines, which enable players to play games. In all cases, these machines provide prizes in only limited ways. It is, of course, possible for a machine to dispense a prize of coins directly to the player, as is commonly done in the case of slot machines and the like. Other electronic gaming machines include built-in printers that provide a winning player with a voucher, which can be redeemed for money at a cashier's window. In all of these cases, the prize is in the form of money, not some other tangible item of value. Depending on the design of the gaming machine, the player may see a display of a dollar amount that can be won with the machine. But for gaming machines of the prior art, the awarding of non-monetary prizes has not been considered feasible due to requirements of security and inventory control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,125 issued to Adams discloses a gaming device with payouts in multiple forms. One form of payout comprises a national currency, such as U.S. quarters, while another form of payout comprises tokens formed of a precious metal, such as silver and/or gold. The device disclosed in this patent displays tokens to players. However, the tokens displayed to the player are merely representative of the tokens the player may receive when the player achieves the appropriate award. A player is not allowed to see the actual prize that is to be awarded to the player and no means is provided for allowing the player to select the prize that is to be awarded to the player from among a plurality of prizes. The enjoyment and excitement of winning a prize is greatly increased when players can select the actual award the player will receive. This is especially true when the prizes are unique or subject to personal taste, such as jewelry.
The entertainment value of some games may be substantially enhanced when the player has the opportunity to view the actual award that can be won. Moreover, some kinds of valuable tangible prizes occupy very little space, such as diamonds, jewelry, watches, tickets to popular sporting events, keys to an automobile, and others. However, placing prizes of this kind in a display case is problematic, because of the need for security. In order to display prizes of this kind continuously to players, a mechanism must be provided that assures neither players nor gaming personnel will be able to gain access to such prizes without proper authorization.
Also, it is important to have a mechanism for automatically monitoring inventory of prizes, both for purposes of maintaining security of the prizes, and to be sure that the gaming machine is properly stocked at all times.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus that makes it feasible to display and dispense actual, non-monetary prizes that can be won at a gaming machine. The invention provides multiple levels of security that greatly reduce the chance of theft by players or by employees of the gaming establishment.